September 2, 2008

Rest Assured with the Natural Mat

We had already purchased Olivia's crib mattress before I realized that toxicity levels inherent in mattresses were unsafe. Hmmph. Healthy Child, Healthy World just recently updated their article, "Do You Know What's In Your Baby's Mattress?" This is worth a read, but the "UGH!" factor is very high, because you'll want to toss your baby's current mattress, and may not be able to if money is a concern... a dilemma we all understand as parents of the eco-movement. We want to do right by our children and our world, but sometimes the best alternatives exceed our budgets.

Since Petite Planet is all about options, I wanted to give readers a natural alternative to typical crib mattresses. Perhaps you can start saving money now to purchase one for your next child, or simply gain wisdom from the fact that healthier options are available. If I had the money to plunk down on the Coco Mat, an organic crib mattress by Natural Mat, I would. Evidently, it costs about twice as much ($375) as the mattress we did buy for Olivia, but had I known about all of the benefits of The Coco Mat at the time, I would have gladly found a way to kick in the extra money. (See the bottom of this post for a discount opportunity!)

The Coco Mat, whose interior is shown in the picture above, contains no chemicals, plastics, or PVC. Instead, it is comprised of "the finest natural and organic raw materials including lambs wool, natural rubber latex foam, coir, mohair and cotton."

Here's the extensive description of The Coco Mat:

Coco Mat is Natural Mat’s most breathable and organic mattress and is ideal for small babies. The Coco Mat is filled with organic coir from the only organic coir plantation in the world. Coir is made from coconut fibers, which are coated in natural latex to make a supportive and breathable fibrous layer. The coir is wrapped with soft lambswool which acts as an excellent thermal insulator, ensuring the mattress is cozy in winter and cool in summer. The lambswool is bathed in a mixture made from the extracts of lemon, lavender and eucalyptus making it completely anti-dust mite as well as maintaining the excellent thermal properties of wool. The mattress is covered in an unbleached cotton herringbone cover, which is removable and machine washable.

If you're wondering about all of the little details that make a Natural Mat mattress better than a conventional one, click here to read: "Why is Natural Mat best?"

Some GREAT news is that Petite Planet readers can get a 10% discount on their purchase of any Natural Mat order from www.barebabies.com by using code: pp10offnm. Click here to be taken directly to the site. Save some green while you go green!

1 comment:

I agree that the matress issue is yucky. I would love to replace everyone's matresses in the house, but the cost is too prohibitive. I chose to put organic cotton matress pads and sheets instead. I also put the kids in organic cotton pjs. NASA also has a great study about plants cleaning the air so I put a plant in the kids' rooms too. We do what we can...

Thank you for the information on these matresses. I wish I could have done something like that before we bought ours.